Armageddon Z
by isoner
Summary: The Test Run is over. Cobra Commander has implemented his final plan for world domination. Ch 12: The Fall of Bunker Hill.
1. Arrival

Author's Note: At long last, I am continuing the story I started in Armageddon Test Run. The events of the story Alien Exodus also fit into the continuity I am using here. For those who were wondering, that story was shortened and ended not because of lack of interest either on the audience's part or my own.. the story was aborted because I saw that I was not going to be able to provide the same level of impact that I was able to deliver with Armageddon Test Run. The events that would have taken place in that story, and in others will be included within this story, provided that the events are relevant and impactful That also means that while this story is filed under GI Joe/Transformers crossovers, before it is done, it may occasionally leave some of those categories behind in favor of MIB, Generator Rex, Ben 10, SJA, and whatever other categories it happens to wander into.

Also… Fair warning: The gloves are off!

Cobra Armageddon Z

Arrival

The Thunder Machine lived up to it's name as it roared down the country road along with its motorcycle escort. It wasn't the original Thunder Machine, that one had long ago been destroyed. The machine that Thrasher drove was longer and slower and relied on a diesel engine, but it still packed a punch, and could carry a good amount of cargo.

"Pedestrian up ahead," Thrasher said.

"Alive?" Metal Wrecker asked. The voice was distorted by the thick metal helmet Metal Wrecker wore.

Metal Wrecker sat in the Thunder Machine's passenger seat. She always made Thrasher feel uneasy.

Buzzer rode ahead, with his chain saw at the ready.

Thunder Machine had already passed the pedestrian by the time their head landed on the ground.

"Definitely not alive," Buzzer said.

Another of the bikes pulled along side the passenger side window. "We're getting close," Zartan said.

"Drop the lure," Metal Wrecker said.

"On it," Heart Wrencher said from the back of the Thunder Machine.

With a thunk, a large barrel dropped off the back on the Machine, which continued on it's way, although much quietly. The distinctive Thunder Machine rumble remained with the barrel.

Figures emerged from the woods along the road, while more were slowly walking along the road in a slow pursuit of the Dreadnocks. The figures gathered around the loud barrel.

The barrel detonate, sending body parts flying everywhere.

o-O-o

"I'm goin out on patrol," Grimlock said.

"Try not to wreck anything out there," Denny said.

"Hey, I'm a puncher, not a wrecker!" Grimlock answered.

"Just remember to bring back any good salvage after you… uh, punch stuff," Denny said.

"Will do!" Grimlock's dinobot form jogged out of Denny's Vintage Salvage Depot for the Discriminating Nostalgist.

"I think I better go with him," Bumblebee said, then stopped, and turned towards the human who had been hiding Bee's team since their arrival. "I appreciate how you have been helping us, Denny, but… we hardly ever see anyone come here, and you keep buying new stuff. How do you stay in business?"

"You see Bumblebee," Denny said, "I am an expert negotiator, and act more as a middle man in most respects."

Bumblebee nodded and took off after his dinobot friend. Despite the extensive amount of time he had spent on Earth, and having a greater understanding of Earth than anyone else on his team, there was still so much he just didn't understand. Not for the first time, he thought about contacting Raf. Raf was always good at explaining things to him.

But, contacting any of their old friends could put them at risk. Steeljaw was still out there, looking for any angle he could use against the Autobots. Besides, when Jasper fell, Raf had the worst time of it than any of their friends. He didn't want to set Raf's recovery back by reminding him of all the horrors that had happened when Jasper fell.

Denny found himself alone at the gate. Of course he knew he wasn't really alone. His son Rusty was somewhere, most likely with Drift's minicons playing video games. Who knew where Sideswipe and Drift were, but he was pretty sure that Strongarm was performing an inventory of the scrapyard. As usual, Fixit would be in the command center.

"Incoming envoy—er savoy—er convoy!" Fixit loudly announced from the command center.

A smile lit up Denny's face. "Customers! Anyone not from Earth needs to hide," he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Russell rushed over to the gate. "Who is it?"

"Can't tell yet."

Russell climbed the ladder beside the main gate to the top of the wall that surrounded the scrap yard. Originally the wall had been a basic fence, but with the Autobot's using it as their base, both the fence and the gate had received substantial upgrading.

"It looks like the Dreadnocks." Russell called down from the top of the wall.

"Well, it's about time," Denny exclaimed.


	2. Scrapyard

Cobra Armageddon Z 2

Scrap Yard

Russell closed the gate, as the Dreadnaught Thunder Machine and its' motorcycle escort parked in the central clearing.

"Welcome back," Denny said. "How are things out there?

"You guys are really lucky, ya know?" Torch said, "This is such a great place to live."

"I know!" Denny said.

Buzzer walked to the back of the thunder machine, and pulled out a medium sized bag. "Here's your mail."

"Everyone will be glad to hear that the mail has finally gotten here. You have been running a bit late," Denny said.

Metal Wrecker, her head encased in a solid steel mask, got out of the Thunder Machine. "Not everywhere is as peaceful as it is here," she said. "Delays happen."

Denny noticed a pile of scrap on the back of the Thunder Machine. "Are you guys here to trade as well?"

"We certainly have," Zartan gestured towards the pile of scrap and junk in the back of the Thunder Machine. It included a lot of useful pieces. Plates that could be hammered out into plows, pipes that could be used in an irrigation system. Yes, Denny would be able use it.

"Looks good to me," Denny finally said. "You have a shopping list?"

"About the list," Metal Wrecker said, "line number 5 reads six Hawaiian shirts. He wants those in pastel colors."

Denny swore, "Im going to be stuck wearing these red and yellow ones forever aren't I?"

"Your own fault for not paying attention to the list."

"I think I have most of this stuff here," Denny looked the list over. "I'll need to go into town for some of these items… like pastel shirts. Football Mace… What the hell is a football mace? You know what? Ill just figure it out."

If Metal Wrecker was amused, it did not show through the battle worn mask.

"So feel free to look around while I'm gathering what I can from here," Denny said, "you may fine more that interests you."

"OH!" Thrasher yelled from across the yard, "I want this for the Thunder Machine."

Metal Wrecker's head shook from side to side, then started to wander around too.

Thrasher kept holding his prize, giggling like an idiot.

"Lookit—He's got a bloomin sports car!" Ripper said.

Curious, Metal Wrecker looked too. It was a fancy sports car, red with Japanese writing on it. It was a nice car.

Metal Wrecker found another car on a different row, this one was a police SUV, with a strange red symbol on the side that Metal Wrecker found oddly familiar.

"Yeah, somebody traded these cars with us for food, do you believe it?" Russell said, rapidly moving between one group of Knocks and the next.

"But is that all it is?" Dragging her fingers across the hood of the vehicle, Metal Wrecker said, "Don't you have anything to say? I have ways to make even cars feel pain."

In the command center, Denny worked quickly before the Knocks found something they shouldn't, or worse, try to buy something they shouldn't. "Hey, Fixit, can you find any data about a football mace."

"Certainly," the minicon said, and began dredging through trillions of gigabytes of data both from his Cybertron Database as well as the internet. "Hmmm… I'm not coming up with anything on the combination, but I will see what I can come up with.

"Thanks Fixit, now I can focus on the rest of this list… Cajun spices… That is going to be a tricky one.

Elsewhere, Metal Wrecker found herself in a section of the yard that few customers ever actually reached. On one side was a pile of large tubes with huge glass doors on them, which would have struck Metal Wrecker as odd, but she was instead fixated on a police SUV parked in the area. Like the red sports car, she reached out and touched the red robotic face painted on it's side. "Strange… why are you here?"

Suddenly, Metal Wrecker's attention was fully fixed on something on the far end of the row. She walked towards it, slowly, and with deliberate purpose.

"Hey, Denny!" Metal Wrecker called, "Get over here!"

Gasping for breath from moving so quickly, Denny rushed over to her, "Yes? Did you find something of interest? The rollercoaster track could be very useful for someone in your position."

"Where did you get that?" Metal Wrecker demanded, pointing to a stack of blue glowing cubes.

"Um…" Denny stammered, he could really use Russell and one of his crazy explanations right about then. "Movie props!"

"Doesn't matter; we're taking them," Metal Wrecker said, then called out, "Zartan! Gather the boys, we are taking these, now. The rest of the list can wait."

Seemingly appearing from nowhere, Zartan approached, "The others aren't going to like that."

"They… will… understand," she said in a threatening manner.

"Wait!" Denny said, "I can't let you have those. We haven't even discussed payment yet. Your stuff is usually good, so I haven't pressed the issue so far, but those… cubes are a special item for a client."

"I would prefer to be decent and respectful about this. A fair exchange of goods," Metal Wrecker said, "but I need those cubes, regardless of the cost."

Zartan took a step back, literally fading into the background. Elsewhere in the junkyard an instinctive call to arms sounded. Buzzer, Ripper, and Torch each readied their signature weapons, while Thrasher and Heart Wrencher made for the Thunder Machine. Metal Wrecker stood her ground.

"Look, please, anything else. I'll even give you a discount, but I need to keep those cubes," Denny said, hoping that Russell was smart enough to keep his head down. Suddenly it seemed as if the design of Metal Wrecker's helmet was oddly familiar, like he had seen it before. Now that was going to bug him until he figured it out.

"I need them more," Metal Wrecker said.

There was a sound of shifting metal. "I cannot let you do that," Strong Arm's female voice said, "I may not be able to arrest you for violating any Cybertronian laws, but I'm certain that theft is against the law here too." Strong Arm had transformed, and now stood behind Metal Wrecker with her weapon leveled at the tiny human,.

"Come on, you guys are good customers," Denny said, trying to diffuse the situation, cant we work this out?"

"Dad!" Russell cried out. He was held firmly by Zartan who had an arm around the boy's neck, with a pistol pointed at his head.

"Yes, surely we can come to some sort of an arrangement," Zartan said.

"If you harm him," another voice said, this one coming from the red sports car, now in the robot mode of Sideswipe, "you won't live long enough to take that Energon."

"Release the boy, Zartan," Metal Wrecker said.

"But he's our best bargaining chip!"

"Release the boy, or the Autobot will be the least of your worries," Metal Wrecker left no question for doubt in her voice.

Zartan lowered the gun. "Fine, so how are you going to handle the situation?"

"With ease." Metal Wrecker thumped her fist hard against her chest. From nowhere, metal plates grew and encased Metal Wrecker in a suit of armor that brought her head to head with Strong Arm, and more importantly, foot to head, as a Metal Wrecker delivered a kick to Strong Arm's face.

Sideswipe charged in, leaping over the humans to engage Metal Wrecker directly, but a backhanded blow smashed him into the stack of stasis chambers before he could even touch down.

"These odds hardly seem fair," Metal Wrecker said.

The armored Metal Wrecker felt rather than saw the two spinning disks coming towards her. She jumped and spun in the air, delivering two kicks that sent each of the spinning minicons flying into different parts of the scrapyard.

"Perhaps you should count again," Drift said, standing on top of a wall, holding his sword at the ready.

"No," Metal Wrecker said, "I counted you."

Drift leapt high into the air, coming down sword first at the armored human.

Metal Wrecker caught the sword between the palms of her armored hands. "Your blade is rather dull, has someone not been polishing it correctly?" she said, then wrenched the sword off to the side, throwing Drift along with it.

"Master!" Jetstorm called. Of Drift's two minicons, Jetstorm was the one who landed closest.

"I am fine, pupil," Drift said, "Do not let this distract you from the battle at hand."

"Punching time!" Grimlock made the mistake of announcing his attack.

Metal Wrecker's foot swept out in a graceful circle, sending the charging dinobot into a less than graceful fall face first into the ground.

"You know," Buzzer whispered to Zartan, "I can go after their joints, then Torch and Ripper can tear them down to slag."

"I admire your spirit," Zartan said, "but the little lady got herself into this mess, let's see how she plans to get out of it."

One by one, the Autobots regrouped, forming a circle around the armored human.

"So, how do you guys want to handle this? Two at a time, or all at once?" Metal Wrecker asked. "Either way is good with me."

"Enough talk," Grimlock shouted, "Lets get to punching!" The green dinosaur charged forwards.

"That wasn't the plan," Strong Arm shouted.

"Just roll with it," Sideswipe said, springing into action.

Sideswipe's blow landed, but his excitement was short lived when he realized all his blow did was to help place her in a perfect position to block Drift's next attack, almost as if Metal Wrecker had planed it that way.

Drift and Sideswipe backed off, giving Strong Arm an opening to fire with her Decepticon Hunter.

"That's enough!" Bumblebee's shout carried a seldom heard air of authority. Everyone, bot or human paused and looked up at the yellow Autobot standing on the wall.

"Bee?" Metal Wrecker said, "do you want to throw down too?"

"Miko? Is that you?" Bumblebee asked.

"What gave it away? Did I go too far in using the Wrecker symbol for my helmet's faceplate?" The young Asian woman pulled the helmet off, revealing the older face of one of Bumblebee's oldest human friends.


	3. Catching up

Chapter 3:

"How did Metal Wrecker manage to do all that?" Torch asked aloud, looking at the fallen Autobots that were scattered across the scrapyard.

"Didn't you hear?" Thrasher answered, "She trained with Storm Shadow."

"That doesn't explain the giant suit of armor," Torch said.

"Yeah… no idea on that one," Thrasher said.

"Miko, why do you need the Energon?" Bumblebee, the last Autobot still on his feet asked.

"For our mutual friend," Metal Wrecker/Miko said.

"Wait, what happened?" Bumblebee said.

"After everything went to hell, Section E was cut off from our usual supplies of Energon, much less able to refine it for his use," Miko said.

"How bad is he?"

"Bad."

"Take four cubes. That should be enough, and still leave my team with enough to keep going until we can find some more," Bumblebee decided.

"Thanks, Bee," Miko said.

"So we're not taking it all now?" Ripper asked.

"No, Ripper, we reached a compromise," Miko said.

Drift groaned as he got up, and retrieved his apologetic Minicons.

"I can tell your training has been going well," Bumblebee said.

"Yeah, they all said I was a gifted, if annoying student," Miko answered.

"What happened to the Apex Armor's helmet?" Bumblebee asked, "Your head shouldn't be exposed like this."

"I got in over my head during the Fall of the Pentagon. The Armor took some damage."

"After surviving billions of years of Cybertronian conflicts, you mean to say you damaged the legendary Apex Armor in battle against humans?" Drift said.

"Not exactly against humans, dude," Miko said. "Told you, the world's gone to hell in a handbasket."

"What do you mean, what's happened?" Bumblebee asked.

"Remember what happened in Jasper?"

"Yeah… when we covered the evacuation of the human survivors. Not a good time."

"World wide."

"What?"

"Started out as a few small attacks here and there, but before we knew it, we had an epidemic on our hands. Not many holdouts like this one left anymore," Miko said.

"But we haven't detected any Dark Energon."

"That was only present in the first generation of the Z Virus. We are way past that point now," Miko said.

"Do you know what they are talking about?" Denny asked his son.

"No idea what this Dark Energon is," Rusty said.

"Glad it wasn't just me," Denny said.

"And all this time," Bumblebee said, "we have been avoiding the city to escape human detection, and we needn't of bothered. Why didn't you tell us, Denny?"

"I thought you knew," Denny said, "Why else go to so much trouble to avoid the city? I was just glad you didn't lead any zombies back here."

"There were a couple of hold out colonies in Crown city, but I think one of them has fallen now too," Miko said.

"Which one!?" Rusty demanded, "Mom?"

"Sorry, kiddo," Denny said in a somber tone, "she knew it was coming, that's why she sent you here."

"Tough break, Kid," Buzzer offered words of comfort.

"I'll call Jack," Miko said. "When he gets here, he can give you an updated idea of the world view, and he will be able to get the Energon Cubes back faster."

"Miko…" Bumblebee began, with a hint of hesitation in his voice, "what about…?"

"Later, Bee," Miko said. "After all, you still haven't told me how Bulk has been doing."


	4. fall of the Pentagon

Fall of the Pentagon

"I feel like I should be doing something," Miko said, standing next to a couple of Joe agents and regular military in the Pentagon subway station.

"You are just a consultant," Flint said, "Our zombie expert."

"Yeah, yeah… just make sure you don't let anyone in who has been bitten," she huffed.

A subway train pulled into the station, filled beyond capacity with refugees from Washington DC, people who had been displaced by the sudden zombie incursion. Many of the residential areas were completely unsafe now.

"Ok. Lets get these people processed and moved into the Pentagon," Flint said, "Trip Wire, get ready to blow the subway tunnels. We don't want any zombies following on the tracks."

Tripwire waved an OK, and set to work laying explosives.

"We have protocols in place," Flint said, "we are suppose to be able to stop these zombie outbreaks before they get this bad. Especially in DC."

"They got lost," Lady Jay said, "in the politics of government and big business."

"I wonder which of those is worse," Flint said.

Civilian refugees filed by Flint and the others, as military doctors gave each of them a quick once over looking for wounds.

"Not like it would have really mattered," Miko chimed in with her unwanted opinion. "We know this isn't a natural occurrence, and while these outbreaks may seem random, these zombies are being used like tactical weapons. Surely you've noticed that."

"Yeah, we've noticed," Flint said, "but the politicians refuse to acknowledge it. I think I figured out which is worse."

"Then you've never worked retail," Lady Jay said.

"Another train coming in!" Tripwire shouted.

"Were we expecting another train?" Miko asked.

"No, we weren't," Flint said. "What's it look like?"

"It looks full from here," Tripwire said.

"Get the first train out of here," Lady Jay ordered, "and these people out of the way."

"You can't rush the screening, getting the people moved is going to take time," Miko said, wondering when she became the one to slow things down. Jack must be rubbing off on her. Or the Ninja training.

The first train pulled out of the way just in time, as the second one screeched to a halt right behind it. It was definitely full, standing room only.

The doors opened, and the figures began filing out, but they weren't civilians. They each wore a green Cobra uniform, and wore a face concealing helmet with tubes that ran from it down to canisters mounted on their back of what could only be the infamous Compound Z.

"What he hell is going on?" Flint asked.

"Take defensive firing positions, damn it!" Miko said.

"Take firing positions," Lady Jay ordered.

The regular military, their guns already ready, moved into position to protect the escaping civilians from the new uniformed arrivals that were still exiting their train.

All at once, the helmets snapped apart and fell to the ground spraying Compound Z on the ground, and revealing grotesque half decomposed faces. Free of their restraints, and the constant flow of Compound Z, the freshly delivered zombie horde quickly became feral and with snarling growls, they began to charge the troops and civilians at high speed.

"Fast zombies? When did they get fast zombies?" Miko said.

The troops opened fire, but the bullets did little to stop the rushing horde. Lady Jay threw her a javelin, which impaled two zombies, but only served to trip them up.

"Oh, come on!" Miko exclaimed.

Flint fired a shotgun blast at close range, blowing the head of one zombie completely off. "Aim for the legs or heads."

As the soldiers adjusted their aim, zombies started falling, either being slowed by broken or missing legs, or falling from shots to their heads. It still wasn't enough. The horde started catching up to the straggling civilians, and the soldiers who misjudged the reach of the onrushing zombies.

"Tripwire, forget the tunnels, wire the entrance while we slow them down." Flint took aim and took down another three zombies, but he rushing horde was still gaining ground.

"On it!"

"Ill help slow them down," Miko declared.

"No, wait," Lady Jay was waging a delicate dance with the horde, rushing forward with one of her javelins, delivering a few lethal head strikes, then backing off again.

The civilians panicked, entering a full run for the stairs up. Some of the less seasoned soldiers followed them. The defenders were nearly overrun, when Miko activated the Apex Armor she wore on her chest.

The Autobot relic encased Miko from head to toe in an impenetrable suit of armor that more than tripled her size. She leapt up and crashed into the charging zombies. She waded through the horde, throwing them back across the tracks, and into the far walls as she went.

The zombies still saw Miko as a target, grabbing and climbing on her legs, trying fruitlessly to bite into the armor. Eventually more zombies built up on her legs than she could throw off, tripping her. Once she was on the ground, they swarmed her. Before she knew it, Miko was pinned, and unable to move, forced to watch as grotesque faces drooled and snapped against the transparent aluminum of the Apex Armor's helmet. Decaying boney hands clawed at the seams of the helmet. Panic began to set in; Miko screamed.

Miko heard gunfire being directed in her direction. Finally the horde climbing on top of her Apex Armor had thinned out enough for her to be able to move. She stood up shakily, and ripped the last few off of her face covering. The zombie's boney hands had dug in so much, that her helmet was pulled off along with the last few zombies.

"We've got to go!" Flint shouted, his back was back against the exit, barely holding the zombies back.

"Explosives are ready… ish" Tripwire said.

Miko ran for the exit, deactivating the Apex as she passed by Flint and Lady Jay.

"Let's go!" Flint shouted, running out of the subway along with Lady Jay and Tripwire. They found cover as soon as they were clear of the tunnel.

The fast running zombie horde did not pause to notice them, as it tore after the panicked civilians trying to run from them.

Tripwire detonated the exit to the subway, sealing the few zombies that remained down in the subway tunnels away, but the majority of the zombies had made it out, and followed the panicked civilians and soldiers into the Pentagon building itself.

"Well, damn," Flint said, listening to the echoes of gunfire that came from within the Pentagon itself. "Zombies as a tactical weapon indeed."


	5. Jack's arrival

[This story chapter does take into account an epilogue that has not yet been posted anywhere.]

The Minicon Fixit crossed the scrapyard over to the Dreadnaught Metal Wrecker… known to Bumblebee and his friends as Miko.

"Is this what you wanted?" Fixit presented her with the item he had just finished making. It was a football with metal spikes mounted around it at the end of a stick.

"Wait," Denny started to protest, "isn't that my autographed—"

"Perfect!" Miko exclaimed, "If this isn't a football mace, I don't know what is. Should certainly get Fridge to shut up about a wanting a signature weapon."

"I got most of the metal tubes that you want," Denny said.

"You have aircraft carrier compatible piping?" Miko asked.

"Aircraft carrier… rollercoaster… the size specifications are the same, so… it should work."

"Can't be too picky, I guess."

"Will have to make a run into town for some of this stuff. Those spices could be hard to come by for example."

"Zartan and the gang will help."

"We will?" Zartan said.

"Yes… because it is on the way to our next stop. We have to see what remains of the holdouts in Crown City."

"You've come along way, Miko," Bumblebee said, "Bulkhead will be proud."

"Thanks, Bee," she replied, "You're doing well too, having your own team and all."

"Well…"

"Chopper" Rusty shouted from the control center.

"Well, he didn't waste any time," Miko said.

A large transport helicopter flew overhead, and circled the scrap yard before landing within it's walls.

Two soldiers climbed out and started unloading something from the back, while Jack exited the front and approached Miko at a jog.

Miko met him halfway, throwing her arms around him and greeting him with a passionate kiss.

"Oh, uh… that's different," Bumblebee said. He then joined Zartan, Denny and the rest of the humans in looking at anything that was not Jack and Miko kissing.

"What is the purpose of this interaction?" Strong Arm asked.

Grimlock and Sideswipe looked like they were watching the scrambled channels that Rusty tried to watch some nights. "You know," Sideswipe said, "this reminds me of a little place I know on Cybertron where the serving droids walk around without their torso plates, if you know what I mean."

"I have no idea!" Grimlock said.

Breaking apart, the pair realized they were the center of attention. "Hey! It's a zombie apocalypse, people!" Miko shouted. "You take what you can get, when you can get it!"

"I thought it would be easier to just bring Ratchet with me," Jack said. "Good to see you, Bumblebee."

"And you Jack," Bumblebee answered. "Are you in charge now?"

Jack almost laughed. "No, but people do seem to listen to me."

"He's almost in charge," Miko said, "or at least it seems like it."

"A lot has happened since you left," Jack said.

"I can imagine. I hope you can fill me in," Bumblebee said.

"Sure, and Ill give you a lay of the land, although Zartan may have a better idea on that."

"And how is your mom doing?"

"She completed basic training and is in the military now," Jack said. "I understand there was some excitement during her training, but she doesn't talk about it. News of Prime's death hit her hard… and then something happened while she was out on a mission, and she started insisting he wasn't really dead."

"Ah… well, he's not… anymore," Bumblebee said. "It's difficult to explain. About Zartan… I thought he was working for Cobra… the people who developed the Zombie compound."

"As he said," Zartan interrupted, "a lot has happened in the last few years. Perhaps we should move on to updating the map?"

"Sure," Bumblebee and Jack both agreed.

"A group called the Red Shadows started down in Mexico, and has been spreading northward, retaking each town they come across, and radicalizing them. The old Truman studio is an independent colony. We expected Springfield to be Cobra controlled, but—"

"It's zombie town," Miko interrupted Zartan.

"Right. Parts of New York are under the protection of either mutants or aliens. Griffin Rock is Cobra Controlled, as well as Cobra Island and parts of Scotland. London, England is under the protection of the last member of the royal family. We're still looking for the main Cobra base. Did I leave anything out?"

Miko thought for a moment. "China is gone, and not much is left of North Korea. There are scattered remnants of civilization all over."

"Back up a second," Bumblebee said, "Griffin Rock is under Cobra control? What happened to the Rescue Bots?"

"Missing in action," Jack said.


	6. Sierra's farewell

Sierra's farewell

Terrordrone 6, a few days after the destruction of Jasper, NV:

"So, did your boyfriend ever turn up?" Miko asked Sierra as they walked through one of the corridors to the mess hall.

"No," Sierra answered, "not here or at any of the other terrordrones either."

"Look… he was a jerk," Miko said, "but… uh… I'm sorry about your loss."

"Thanks. So how are things going with you and Jack?"

"Me and Jack? We're just friends."

"Are you sure? I've seen the way the two of you look at each other."

"Nah… Just friends. True, we have been through some… tense situations that made us closer, and sometimes it feels weird when we're together… But anyway, Jack has only ever had eyes for you."

"You are adorable," Sierra smiled. "I know Jack has been interested in me, but it seems that whenever he is about to do something about it, something gets in the way. Right now, I think that something is you."

"If you want, I can give him a kick in the pants; get him to talk to you."

"Thanks, but I really think you like him more than you think you do."

"Maybe," Miko whispered just loud enough for Sierra to hear.

"You know, we could always share."

"Wait, what? Share what?"

"Jack."

"You mean you get you get him Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and we alternate Sundays?"

"No, silly. I mean at the same time."

"Are you serious?" Miko's head was full of new thoughts, to the point that she didn't know if she hoped Sierra was joking or not.

Sierra laughed like it was one big joke, picking up the pace to enter the mess hall while Miko was still in the hallway trying to sort out her own thoughts.

0oOoOo0

"Hey, Miko!" Sierra called out to the Japanese girl who was wearing a Japanese school uniform. "I was looking for Jack, but I can't find him. Anyway, I'm going to be relocated in a few minutes. They are sending me to some town called Boulder Hill. Its closer to the mountains."

"Oh." Miko sounded disappointed. "I'm sure Jack will be sorry he missed you. Listen…. Were you serious about what you said to me the other day? You know… about, uh… sharing."

Sierra put her arm around Miko and guided her down a seldom used side passage. "Sure. In fact, I was thinking that we could introduce Jack to the idea on his birthday… when the two of us give him a very memorable experience."

"I don't know…" Miko said.

"Look, let me show you how serious I am about this," Sierra pulled Miko through a door into a small ready room. Through the outside door window, they could see the landing strip where the military plane that was about to transport Sierra and a few others was waiting.

(0oOoOo0)

"Are you sure you saw Miko go down this way?" Jack asked.

"Yep, her and some other girl."

"Ok." Jack walked down the narrow passage, trying out the doors as he passed them. The last door, nearest the outside of the Terrordrone, he found her. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Miko was out of breath, and her face was flush. Her legs were wide like she was having trouble keeping her balance, and she was leaning up against a desk. "Yeah, I'm fine," she finally answered, wiping sweat from her brow. "You just missed Sierra."

Jack looked around, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary in the room, except that the inside of Miko's legs were wet. "We need to get you to a doctor," he said, then more softly, "did you pee yourself?"

She looked at jack questioningly, then down at her legs as she stood up into her more normal stance. She grabbed a tissue from the desk to dry herself. "No, I'm fine… well, maybe, but I don't need to see a doctor, I'm perfectly fine. I was doing some… uh, running."

"Okay…" Jack was less than convinced. "I missed Sierra? I heard she is leaving today. I never even got the chance to ask her out!"

"You got to stop putting it off, dude!" she said, then pointed out the window. "There she goes."

Jack and Miko watched Sierra go to the plane. Just before she boarded, she turned towards them and waved goodbye to them with a white cloth.

Miko's eyes went wide, and her face blushed at the sight of the cloth. She looked down and then up again.

"Jack… I need your help," Miko said.

"Sure, anything."

"You know how I, uh… peed myself… well, my underwear got really messed up so I threw it away… only I forgot that I was wearing a short skirt from my groundbridge trip to school in Japan."

"Okay, yeah," Jack said, still not sure what she wanted of him.

"I will kill you, if you breathe a word of this to anyone," Miko threatened.

"I know, you've been learning how," Jack said.

Miko's voice turned softer, almost tender, "Could you help me get to my room without anyone seeing up my skirt?"

Jack grinned, and that infuriated Miko, but he soon reassumed his normal serious face. "Sure, follow me."

(0oOo0)

A few weeks later the Darby's, along with Raf, had been transferred to their own housing in another town, but one that was not too far from Unit: E's local base.

There was a knock at the door, about a split second before the door was opened and footsteps walked inside.

"Miko, is that you?" June Darby called, "We're in the kitchen, having dinner."

Miko sat at the table, next to Jack and across from Raf, who was improving, but still refused to speak.

"It's tuna surprise," June said.

"Oh, cool. What's the surprise?"

"That we haven't run out of it yet."

Miko appreciated Jack's mom's attempt at humor. "Ugh, I don't mind the Spacebridge trips to Japan to see my parents, going to school, and training at the dojo with the clan, but the time difference is killing me."

"If anyone can manage it, it's you, Miko," Jack said.

"Or, you'll have a psychotic episode," June added, "maybe learning a lethal martial art isn't such a good idea after all."

Miko yawned. "I just need some down time, then Ill be back at full speed, helping Bulkhead pound some Decepticons! Hey, Jack, maybe you could transfer to my school for a while?"

"Uh… I don't speak Japanese half as well as you speak English. Or at all."

"What brings you here today?" June asked, while dishing out Tuna Surprise on Miko's plate.

"I wanted to tell Jack about a letter I got today."

"Oh?" Jack said.

"Yeah… but it's kinda bad news."

"What kind of bad news?"

Miko handed him the second page of her letter, and pointed down to the third paragraph. "It's from Sierra."

"You have been writing to Sierra?" Jack asked, then started reading, "I've gotten a new boyfriend, he's a few years older than I am, and he's not as serious as Jack, but he's still a good guy, and very smart. He built his own robot, and it can transform into a scooter. The sad thing is that the robot is his best friend, but I hope to change that."

"HA!" Miko lauged.

"Yeah, too bad she couldn't meet Arcee," June said.

Jack continued reading, "but don't worry, I was thinking of visiting, and we can give Jack that birthday surprise we talked about…. What birthday surprise?"

Miko blushed, "Um… nothing. Besides, then it wouldn't be a surprise." She snatched the sheet out of Jack's hand. "Gotta go, see you at the Autobot base."

"I think that was her shortest visit ever," June said.


	7. Into the city

"I cant believe it! I'm on a mission, and nobody cares I'm not a car!" Grimlock walked down the road towards Crown City. From across the river, it still looked like the shiny, pristine city they always thought it was. Even the rollercoaster at the riverside theme park was running.

The bridge to the city, however, still hadn't been repaired since the Autobots last battle on it. The Autobots and the humans they were escorting crossed with care and concern at the structural damage the bridge had taken since the Autobot's arrival.

Once they were inside the city, it was a different story. Looted cars were left abandoned along the roads. Glass was missing out of most of the buildings. Very few buildings had makeshift repairs done to them with by having their windows and doors boarded up, but not many. Weeds were growing in the street, and along the sidewalk cracks. A layer of dirt covered everything.

"This is strange," Strong Arm said. "Does it remind you of anything, Sir?"

"It reminds me of the Sea of Rust!" Grimlock offered, "except for the buildings… and trees. Know what? Just forget I said anything."

"Reminds me of Jasper, just before it was firebombed to eliminate the zombie infestation," Bumblebee said.

"They firebombed an entire city, just to get rid of some infestation?" Sideswipe asked.

"It was cold, calculated and efficient," Bumblebee said. "Both sides did far worse during our war. I still believe eliminating the city saved a lot more lives."

"Are they going to do that here?" Strong Arm said.

"Doubt it," Bee said, "I think the zombie situation is too widespread for that to work."

"If this city burns, it won't be a deliberate act," Torch said. "Not that it ain't tempting."

"Just remember not to be too loud," Miko said, "this entire city is infested… We are just hoping to get lucky and find some humans still alive after the Crown City enclave was over run."

"Sensors on high, everyone," Bumblebee cautioned his troops. "If you see a human moving that is not alive, destroy it."

"What, really?" Sideswipe said.

"But, sir, the Autobot protocols!" Strong Arm looked alarmed.

"They are already dead. We will be preserving life by eliminating them."

"Is there a preferred method of elimination?" Drift asked.

"Destroy the head… disintegrate it, crush it, it doesn't matter, but other wounds are ineffective."

"How can you talk about this so calmly?" Strong Arm asked.

Bumblebee looked at her. "The Autobots covered the evacuation in Jasper. Those things nearly overran us. They could have destroyed us, and killed everyone we were trying to protect, and some of those zombies had been people we knew."

"In this situation you have to be cold and efficient, Strong Arm," Jack said, "Just never forget the values you are fighting for."

"Movement," Drift said.

"Where?" Bumblebee looked around. Nothing appeared on his thermal sensors.

"The building directly ahead of us, on the lowest level."

"We don't want to bring them all down on us by making too much noise taking them out," Bumblebee said.

"I've got this," Zartan pulled out his crossbow. "Come on, Ripper. We've got bodies to bag."

Ripper just laughed, hefting up a rifle that was half bayonet.

"Where is the settlement?" Bumblebee asked while they waited for the two Dreadnoks to return.

"Crown City has two. One near the waterfront, and another somewhere near the heart of the city," Jack said. "That's the one we're checking on."

"You should have let Zartan scout it out alone first," Miko said.

"I don't trust him?"

"Who said anything about trust?"

The sound of machinegun fire came from the building, echoing down the street.

"Damn it," Miko said, "He just had to go and ring the dinner bell."

"Get the rides turned around, gonna have to bug out," Buzzer shouted.

Zartan and Ripper ran towards them as fast as they could. Behind them several zombies came walking after them.

"Are those zombies?" Drift asked.

"Yes," Bumblebee said.

Drift flung his two spinning minicons into the pursuing zombies. They bounced through them and imbedded themselves in the side of the building before transforming.

"Ew… what is this muck?" Jetstorm asked, while wiping the zombie goo and entrails off of himself.

"I think I need an acid bath," Slipstream said.

"We have made a bit of noise," Drift said, "but we are currently clear. Do you still want to withdraw or shall we continue?"

"Cool," Miko smiled at the carnage.


	8. The Death of Sgt Slaughter

When her basic training began, June Darby had found herself dropped into the middle of nowhere with little more than a compass heading. That had been the first test, to make it to the Slaughter House. She and a few other new recruits had done so.

Several times over the next few weeks she was certain that she was about to die. There had been days she might even have preferred it. That was what it was like to train under Sgt. Slaughter.

She ran, pushups, pull ups, climbed walls, weapons training, more running, more weapons training. Further than she would have thought possible to run. Then the obstacle courses… the ones that seemed more like death traps. Life fire exercises, more running, and yet more weapons training on guns and weapons she didn't even know existed.

She wondered if it was even worth it, accepting Doc's offer to enlist, and then receive special training to speed her acceptance into the GI Joe team. But then she would think of Jack and the life she wanted him to have with his new girlfriend. She thought of Raf and the dreadful things that had happened to him and the rest of the citizens of Jasper. Those things must never be allowed to happen again, and that made all the pain and hardships Sgt. Slaughter inflicted upon her and the others a small price to pay.

June came back into the small dorm from her morning run, and collapsed onto her cot. It wasn't her turn to cook this morning, fortunately, so she planned to take a short nap. The beds were deliberately uncomfortable. She knew, because she found that the Sarge regularly hid rocks under their mattresses.

"On your feet, Maggots!" Sgt. Slaughter shouted.

June and the other cadets instantly forgot their fatigue and snapped to attention.

"Today's meal will have to wait. You've got scouting to do!"

Crap. It was going to be another one meal day. At least that meal wasn't going to be wasted on watered down eggs and tofu sausage.

The Sarge paced up and down the barracks. "The ground sensors have picked up something near our little summer camp here. I need you little girls to go out and see what it is, without it seeing you. It could be nothing more than a ground hog, it could be a cobra, or maybe even a Cobra Trooper! Find out, and report back to me! Grab your gear, and don't get killed! Dismissed!"

"Sir! Yes, Sir!" she shouted with her fellow recruits.

It was June and three others training in the Slaughter House. There were more originally, but most of them had washed out, to put it politely. June had not yet received a code name, but the others had. There was the new Shooter; Sgt Slaughter continually told him he had big shoes to fill. There was Bay, who loved making explosions. The third member was called Sparta, she really didn't share much about herself. Sometimes the others called June Mom… and Bay wanted her to get the codename "Hello Nurse," she really hoped neither of those would find its way into her official file.

She grabbed her pack, medical kit, pistol and rifle. She took a slight detour to check which of the sensors had been tripped, then waited for the others.

Sparta was already waiting for her, then Shooter caught up, and finally, Bay.

"So, where we going?" Bay asked.

"Didn't you check?" June asked.

"Of course, didn't you check, Shooter?" Bay asked.

"Sure I did," Shooter nodded, "Lead the way ladies."

Sparta sighed.

"Northeast," June said.

"Yep, just what I said," Shooter took point.

"You guys are lucky our nurse is here," Sparta said, "I'm not as polite as she is."

"Just remember we don't want to be seen," Bay said.

"I know that," Shooter said.

"I was telling myself."

They walked… and they walked, trying not to notice the blistering heat, which contrasted with the nighttimes blistering cold. Finally, Shooter signaled them to stop, and hit the dirt.

"It ain't a prairie dog," Shooter said.

"Nope. Looks more like a man," Sparta said.

June pulled out her binoculars and studied the figure in the distance. It was definitely a person.

Bay crawled up from his spot in the back so that he was between the two women. "What say we go and introduce ourselves?"

"That's not our orders."

"Someone needs to get close enough to see what he's wearing," Shooter studied the figure through his targeting scope.

"What for?" Bay asked.

"To see if he is Cobra, hiker or hunter," Shooter said.

"His gait is off," June said, "he may be hurt."

"Ill do it," Bay said.

"Don't do anything stupid," Sparta said.

"Hey, it's me!" Bay said.

Nobody said anything.

"Come on, isn't somebody going to say, 'That's what I'm talking about?' Classic Independence Day line! You guys need more culture."

"I remember that line," June said, "Didn't work out too well for the character, did it?"

"Point taken." Bay got up to a crouch and ran around and behind the intruder.

Amazingly, Bay remained unseen, and didn't do anything stupid. He was much slower and more cautious while he made his way back to the group.

June continued to scan the horizon with her binoculars while they waited for his return.

"You were right," Bay said when he returned. "He is injured. Looks like something took a big bite out of him, but he's not a Cobra. Looks more like a camper who got lost or something."

"Okay," Sparta said, "now we tell the Sarge, and he can arrange for someone to find this guy in a way that doesn't betray our secret training ground."

"Guys," June's gaze was fixed on a different part of the horizon. "He may not of been a Cobra, but I think that one is."

The others turned to look where June was looking. They saw another sick looking man, but this one was wearing a green uniform with a Cobra symbol proudly displayed on the chest.

"Sorry guys," Shooter studied the new target, "I cant believe I missed that one. Worse, if this one keeps on that heading, he will find the Slaughter House."

"Lets get back. Unseen but quick," Sparta advised, leading their hasty retreat along the ground. Once the Cobra was out of view, they stood up and ran.

"Sgt Slaughter!" Bay called once the barracks and Slaughter House were in view.

"What is it?" He shouted back at them. "How many did you see?"

The four man squad ran up and came to attention in front of Slaughter. "Two, sir. One wounded hiker, and one Cobra wearing a green uniform."

"Green?" Slaughter said, "That isn't one of their usual colors."

"He definitely had the Cobra logo on his chest, Sir," Sparta confirmed.

"That's good, but it also means there were two other targets you missed. The sensors showed four intruders," Sgt Slaughter said.

"Sorry sir, I'll go back out and find them."

"Never mind, Shooter, if one was Cobra, chances are good they are all Cobra." Slaughter glared at them, although all they could see was their own reflections in his sunglasses. "Still, who wants some sniper practice, Shooter?"

"Yes, sir!" Shooter smiled.

"Grab that rifle," he pointed to a new case sitting on the porch of the Slaughter House, "and follow me. All of you."

-o-

They set up position not far from the Slaughter House. For a Cobra agent moving as slowly as he was, he was making pretty good time. They remained hidden behind a large rock, while Shooter took up his firing position behind the rifle.

"Line up your shot, Shooter. Aim carefully… in war, you don't get do-over's." Sgt. Slaughter was crouched behind them; out of sight, but a constant presence and guiding force.

"I'm not going to miss." Shooter fired. The shot echoed across the desert plains.

The target staggered back, but definitely seemed aware of their presence as he picked up his pace.

"I told ya not to miss!" Sgt. Slaughter softly grumbled, his anger obvious.

"No way I missed. Dead center of his chest, for certain," Shooter protested.

"Looked like a clean hit to me too," Sparta said, but he is still moving.

"Give me your binoculars," June demanded. She focused them and studied the approaching Cobra. She recognized the gait, the signs of dehydration, the whiteness of the eyes. "Shit. Shoot him in the head."

"Harder, but I can do it," Shooter said.

"He missed his entire body, you really think Shooter can hit a small target like a head? Im beginning to doubt he can hit the broad side of a barn," Sgt. Slaughter continued to motivate the sniper in training.

The Cobra dropped like a sack of potatoes.

"Well, I don't know if you got the head, but you certainly got him that time." That was the closest thing to a compliment Sgt Slaughter ever gave.

"Fuck; that was so stupid!" June said to herself.

"What's wrong? What did we miss?" here was a fresh air of seriousness to Slaughter's question, like he was talking to her as an equal. He was taking her concern seriously.

"Good news: Shooter just killed his first zombie." June announced. "Bad news: those gunshots just summoned every zombie in the area to our position. That includes any zombies within earshot that cobra released, and the zombies they happened to make along the way, like that wounded camper we saw earlier."

"Okay, good to know," Slaughter said. "I bet Cobra deployed those Zombie Vipers in this area to try and sniff out the GI Joe training ground. Unfortunately for them, they found it. Lets fall back and arm ourselves properly. With luck, Cobra didn't release very many zombies in this area."

"Do you believe in that kind of luck, Sergeant?" Bay asked.

"Hell no. I hope you are up on your zombie movies, 'cause it sounds like these things play by the movie zombie rules."

"Do you think they would leave us alone if we got ourselves sick?"

"I don't believe in stupid plot twists either. Forget World War Z and think more Shaun of the Dead."

"Or the Walking Dead," Shooter suggested.

"Never seen it," Slaughter answered.

-o-

Back at the Slaughter House, Sgt. Slaughter passed out pistols, rifles and extra clips to everyone. "We were staked out right over there," he pointed to a distant rock, "So that is where they will be going to. Wait until they get there, then take 'em out with head shots."

"Sarge, behind you!" Sparta shouted. She raised her pistol and took down a zombie that was approaching from the wrong side of the camp.

"Okay, new plan," Sgt Slaughter took it in stride. "Kill them on sight, but don't let them gang up on you."

The injured camper was the next to appear, he was taken out by Shooter, as were the next two who came from the same direction. One was another Zombie Viper, the other was a woman who was dressed for jogging.

Another group came from the east. This group had apparently been at a family picnic before being attacked.

"Damn, kids too?" Bay emptied his pistol into the family. It took him two clips to kill the entire group. "It's harder when they are all different heights."

"It would also help if you bothered to aim!" Sgt. Slaughter said.

"Right, sorry."

"Don't be sorry! Just do it."

"More incoming," Sparta said. Groups were approaching from all sides.

"Where are they all coming from?" Shooter asked.

"I know, it was such an empty and peaceful desert yesterday," Bay said.

"Two camping grounds to the east and south of us," Slaughter said.

"And the ones coming from the north?" June asked.

"No idea."

June didn't trust her aim. She moved closer to one of the zombies, this one was dressed in a military uniform. Her pistol shot scattered his brains across the landscape.

The battle continued in that fashion for a few hours. There would be periods of blissful peace followed by the sudden fury of zombie attacks as every zombie within earshot reached them. Not a lot at any one time, but the Zombie Vipers had been busy and infected a large number of people over a very wide area. If it had not been in the middle of nowhere…

"Here comes another wave. It's a good thing they have no sense of strategy," Slaughter said, "but each wave is larger than the one before."

"Each wave is made up of zombies who started further away than the wave before… which covers a larger area. The end result is more zombies." Sparta had an incredibly cold way of looking at things when she was focused on something else.

"How many waves do you think we are going to have to deal with?" June asked.

"We should call for help," Bay said.

"We will call for help, the moment the situation becomes too bad for us to deal with ourselves!" Sgt. Slaughter said. "We are just reaching the point of slightly challenging."

"I don't see any beyond this wave," Shooter said. He was already focused on the new wave of zombies, since his weapon had the longest range.

"I don't mind telling ya," Sgt. Slaughter said, "Having to wait on slow moving zombies to get close enough to kill is really getting on my nerves."

June, Sparta, Bay and their Sergeant shouldered their rifles. The guns were set to single fire. Each of them lined up a target, and with a loud pop, fired. There was an occasional miss, but one by one, or by two, the zombies fell. Unfortunately, it took precious time to line up each shot, time that the zombies used to continue their single minded advance.

"They are starting to get awfully close," June switched from her rifle to the pistol she felt more comfortable with.

"We need to push them back," Slaughter said.

"Yeah, but these guys don't seem to be afraid of anything." Bay started firing more rapidly as they grew increasingly closer, but in his haste he wound up missing more often.

"New plan. The three of you keep them off our flanks. Shooter thinned his area out; Ill break through, and then you follow me out. We will keep whittling them down with a running gun battle. Lead them through the obstacle course. Yo Joe!" Sgt. Slaughter took of at a run towards the thinnest point of the mass of zombies, while June, Sparta, Bay and the others continued firing on all the other sides.

The Sarge picked up the nearest zombie, and threw it into the one behind it. He grabbed another two by the neck, one in each hand, bashed their heads together before slamming them down into the ground.

He cried out from exertion and again in pain. Looking down, he saw a young girl with her arms wrapped around his leg, drawing blood. Grabbing a knife from his belt, he planted it in the little zombie's head. "Damn… that was stupid of me."

For the sake of his team, he couldn't stop. He continued to lay into them, forcibly clearing a path, by killing the zombies or simply by throwing them out of the way. A few of them managed to take bites out of his arms, but he didn't worry about that. Because of his oversight, it was already too late. Before he knew it, he had run out of zombies, so he kept running.

Slaughter didn't take the time to look back. He could still hear the retorts of his trainee's gunfire which told him they were right behind him. "To the obstacle course!"

Shooter made for the wall. He climbed quickly to the top, then perched himself at the top. From that vantage point, he could safely pick off zombies anywhere else on the course.

Bay and June Darby ran through the tires, and ropes that gradually increased in height. They stopped at the end, to pick off the zombies who tripped while attempting to follow.

Sparta followed Sgt. Slaughter to the obstacle course's control booth. From there they would be able to activate the automated mines, lasers, and machine guns the trainees had come to hate during their training exercises. "Can we switch them over to live ammo from here?" Sparta asked.

"What d'ya mean? I always use live ammo." Slaughter turned on the course's "harassments" and directed their fire at the zombie advance. The automated systems couldn't manage headshots, but it was more than adequate for removing legs, or simply cutting them in half.

"You're a scary guy, Sarge," Sparta said.

"That's the nicest thing anyone has said to me in years."

As quickly as the carnage had begun, it was over. An eerie silence settled across the battlefield.

"These zombies may be immobilized, but some of them could still be active," Sgt. Slaughter looked around at the carnage. "You guys make sure every corpse here has a hole in it's head. Nurse D… I'm going to need your assistance administering my own treatment."

She followed him, not to the barracks, but to the small house next to them. Through his mess hall style kitchen and into a bedroom that was even more starkly decorated than the barracks had been.

He collapsed onto his bed, and then struggled to turn over onto his back.

"About the treatment," June Darby started, but she didn't have to.

"I read the files. I know the situation," he said. "Damn it, I didn't want to go out like this. I wanted an ambiguous death in a large explosion. Cobra would cheer that they finally got me, but there would always be this doubt in the back of their heads… would this be the battle when Sgt Slaughter revealed he wasn't really dead, and joins the battle to kick their keisters." He managed a weak laugh. "It comes on quick doesn't it?"

"It depends on the level of infection," June readied her gun, but kept it out of sight. "You know what has to happen, I wish I could administer an injection, but…"

"I know, and I can't do that on my own. It just doesn't seem right, but I've been training you to make the hard choices. This is one of those choices." He glared at her through his mirrored sunglasses. "Well, what are you wa—"

The gunshot was much louder indoors… or maybe it was because it was a single shot, not drowned out by others. June wiped away the tear that reached her cheek, and covered Sgt. Slaughter's body with his army blanket.

Sparta and Bay met her at the door to the house when she opened it.

"What was that? Did the treatment not work?"

June let all the fatigue she had been experiencing from the entire weeks she spent training enter her voice. "There is only one treatment for the zombie treatment and it was administered successfully. Unfortunately, the treatment is terminal."

Sparta put a reassuring hand on the nurse's shoulder. "You did good. We all did. Lets find the Sarge's radio and call for extraction."

[Author's note: I own nothing… yadda yadda… if I haven't included that already. Im sort of surprised that this story hasn't gotten any reviews yet. Oh well. The motivation for this chapter wasn't that I don't like wrestling (although I have come to appreciate it) or that I didn't like the character of Sgt. Slaughter… even if a certain Sgt. Slaughter was the name of the cop who wrote me my first few speeding or parking tickets. The motivation for this chapter came from the fact that I rather like the WW Zombies action figures. It just goes to show: Never fight zombies hand to hand, especially if your fighting style is wrestling.]


	9. A new player

Ch 9

Zartan exited the shadows, never failing to startle some of the group waiting for his return. "It wasn't zombies!"

"What d'you mean, Zartan?" Ripper asked.

"Just what I said."

"We should still check it out," Bumblebee said. "Why would you be that interested in a colony overrun by zombies? To bury the dead?"

Miko offered a humorless laugh. "Any dead will have walked away on its own long before now, but zombies don't need the supplies that have been stockpiled there. Food, ammo… pillows. That's all stuff needed by the living. Where is it located, Zartan?"

"Not far. One block down, then another two to the left."

"Let's—" Miko started.

"Let's get going," Bumblebee said at the same time.

The Dreadnok convoy and it's Autobot escort continued carefully, and with relative quiet down the streets.

They came to a wooden gate that had been erected across the road. Although it swung free, it was still in pristine condition. There was no sign that the colony had been overrun by zombies; the end the citizens of the small city colony had been expecting.

Miko put her helmet back on, and stepped out of the Thunder Machine to look around. It seemed surprisingly peaceful, the sort of peace one expected at the center of a tornado. "Everyone look around. Find me some survivors and supplies, people."

"Uh… Miko…" Bumblebee tried to say.

"Metal Wrecker," Zartan got her attention, "look at the poles"

"This is not right," Strong Arm said.

"No, it isn't," Bumblebee agreed, but he had seen similar during the Second Great War. Strong Arm and Sideswipe were so naive and innocent about the ways of war and terror.

"Oh," Miko said.

The tops of the poles that were scattered across the colony were at eye level to the bots. Bumblebee uprooted the nearest pole, and snapped the top off, setting it gingerly down on the ground. Three naked humans had been impaled on it, left to die with a telephone pole sticking through their midsections.

"The warehouses have been cleaned out of all supplies," Buzzer said as he rejoined the others in the center of the camp. He blanched when he saw the growing number of impaled people the Autobots were respectfully laying in the center of the road.

"Ditto for the people," Heart Wrencher said.

"How many people were here?" Sideswipe asked. "We can count the bodies here to see if any got away or were captured."

"It's only the males," Bumblebee said.

"What?" Miko asked.

"On the poles. It's only males. Children, and adults of all ages, but only the males."

"Who could have done this? Do we have a new player in the area?" Miko asked.

"No, instead, I think it is a very old player who has decided to show his hand." Drift pointed up to the side of a sky scraper that made up one of the walls of the former survivor colony. "I was unaware that HE was on the Alchemor."

Carved into the side of the skyscraper was a variation of the Decepticon symbol. While the Autobot Wreckers symbol incorporated a hammer, and the Autobot Elite Guard incorporated wings, this Decepticon symbol added lines that reminded the humans of a neck.

"Who is 'HE'?"

"A tyrant from the first Great War: Straxus."


	10. Late night at the Darby House

Ch 10

Lately, Jack had been a light sleeper so it was little surprise when strange noises from down the hall woke him in the middle of the night. He credited his light sleeping with all the changes that had been happening lately; the Autobots had returned to Cybertron and shortly after they left, they had even recalled Ratchet to deal with some medical emergency or other. On top of all that, his mother was supposed to ship out for some special basic training in a few days.

He still wasn't used to their new house either; they had to move again when the military base near Jasper had been closed down after the Autobots left. Like their previous house, it was tract housing on a military base, but while that one had been near the second Autobot base near the remains of Jasper, this one was someplace else entirely, and neither house had felt like home the way their first house in Jasper did.

The TV was on in the den, although the volume had been turned down low. The glow from the set illuminated Miko, who was sitting on the couch.

"Miko, what are you doing here at this hour?" 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I just wanted to watch that monster truck rally you recorded for me." 

Jack sat next to her on the couch. "How did you get in here?" 

"Fowler bridged me into your closet."

"What, really?" 

"No, you dope! You gave me a key." 

"Sorry, I forgot."

They sat in silence for a few moments, watching the television. On the screen, Bigfoot drove over several cars.

"I miss Bulkhead."

"I know..."

"I even miss Arcee."

Jack smiled and gave Miko a playful punch in the arm.

They watched another round of the different monster trucks speeding over a jump.

"I don't want to keep you up; you should go back to bed. If you want I can come back some other time to watch this."

"I don't mind that part, you could even take the disk with you. That's why I recorded it instead of just using tveo. It's just- You don't have to keep hanging around here if you don't want to."

"I didn't like it at home, so I did study abroad, but I didn't feel at home with my host family either. The only place I ever felt at home was with the bots... but I get it. The Bots are gone so there's no reason for us to hang out anymore. Can I still swing by to check on Raf from time to time?"

"It's not like that. I like you, Miko. I enjoy having you around. I've even gotten use to some of your music."

Miko shifted over to Jack and planted a kiss on his cheek before curling up next to him. "I like you too."

It seemed natural when he placed his arm around her. They had been through so much together in the short time they had known each other. He returned her overt sign of affection by placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head.

"Why don't you feel at home, well, at home?"

"You know what I'm like. My mom is always on my case. She doesn't like my music, my hobbies... anything about me. She keeps saying it makes me an unmarriageable girl. The only thing about me she seems to like is that I got accepted into a martial arts school that is so exclusive that it's impossible to for anyone to get in. You know, they have won every competition they have ever entered? On the other hand, can you imagine if my mom knew what the three of us did that time? She'd give up on me entirely, and lock me away in a convent! And she isn't even Christian."

Gravedigger appeared on screen with the announcer giving a rundown on the vehicle.

"Your mom has some odd ideas."

"No, just traditional... old fashioned, and definitely Japanese."

A legal aid commercial came on, talking about getting hurt at work. They didn't bother fast forwarding past the commercials.

"I think you'd be an amazing catch. English is your second language, but you don't even have an accent. I could never get have a girlfriend like you."

"Really? It's just that your so smart, handsome, brave... you could do anything you wanted, with anyone you chose."

"Except talk to Sierra."

"I wasn't going to mention that part."

The announcer was now talking about some truck-a-sarus that rolled into the arena to pick up the already mangled cars in its teeth.

Miko glanced away from the TV for just a second to look at Jack. "We could, if you wanted."

"We could what?"

She placed her hand on his chest, and felt the increasing speed of his heartbeat through his shirt.

"We could be a—do you have to make me say it?"

"You want to be a couple? With me?"

"Sure." Miko adjusted herself sot that she was snuggled up even closer to him.

"So, how is this going to change things?"Jack asked.

"Between us? If it does, this was a mistake. We can work our way up to PDAs."

Before long the credits were rolling and an announcer was talking about what was coming up next.

Next to her, Jack was breathing the regular deep breaths of sleep. Miko got to her feet and pulled Jack up so that she was supporting him on her shoulder. "Past time to get you into bed, sleepyhead."

She managed to half drag Jack down the hallway to his room. Jack ungracefully flopped back onto his bed. She gave him another quick kiss. "If you don't remember that conversation in the morning, Ill treat you like Hard Shell."

Miko covered him with his sheet, then turned off the lights and TV in the Den.

"That was touching. Good night, Miko" June Darby sat at the table, illuminated by the refridgerator's nightlight.

"Good night, Mrs. Darby, sorry about disturbing you."

"Welcome to the family?"

Her face turning a brilliant red, Miko quickly and quietly closed the door behind her.


	11. Arena

Two naked fighters moved around the makeshift arena, sizing each other up, and trying to intimidate their opponent with makeshift bladed weapons. The fighters were both men, strong and in their prime, the howls of the watching crowd was filled not just with excitement at the pending carnage but with lust and envy over the handsome specimens.

Suspended above the arena, in cages, were the prizes the victor would win. Naked women, who were the most attractive around, despite the dirt and grime streaks on their bodies.

Each fighter received urgings and encouragement from the crowd, urging them to make the first move and score a victory. Bets were placed, not using money, but in the form of food, slaves or services.

Even in this hell of subjugated, fallen society, some men had power over others, even if some obtained that power by selling their own children.

The first fighter lunged, and drew blood from his opponent, who howled with rage. A modern observer would wonder if the two barbarians fighting even remembered what language was.

They exchanged blows again. This time there was a victor as one of the fighters lay sprawled on the ground, blood oozing from his wounds.

The looser was dragged off to a hospital tent, where he would receive treatment. If he lived, he could fight again. Many among the adoring crowds found the presence of scars to be even more attractive.

The winner presented himself to the crowd, his arms held high as he walked around the perimeter of the arena, greeted by the howls of his supporters, and the groans of those who had placed bets on his opponent.

"CHOOSE," a booming voice said.

The fighter turned and looked up at the two women being offered to him, and the crowd again started shouting encouragement for him to choose the woman they preferred.

He pointed, and the woman's cage was lowered. If she said anything in protest, it was drowned out by the roar of the crowd.

Straxus slammed down his pick-ax and stood. While he enjoyed the combat, he found the post match mating rituals of organics disgustingly poor entertainment, but the masses seemed to enjoy them.

"How quickly society falls to ruin, eh, Lord Straxus?"

"Indeed, Colossus. Let the workers enjoy the rest of the show, then get them back to work. I want my new fortress completed as quickly as possible."

"You got it. Better to expend the organics than to waste energon building it ourselves. We will need to send out more scavenging parties for raw materials."

"Of course, but send someone along with them for the heavy lifting. We cannot build the fortress with small scrap."

"When it gets too big, they will notice, don't you think?"

"That rabble of Decepticon wannabes that have been running about, or the paltry squad of Autobots chasing after their own heals trying to track them down?"

"Both?"

"By the time they discover us, we will be more than prepared for them. This time, my plans will not fail."


	12. Fall of Bunker Hill

Armageddon Z

The Fall of Boulder Hill

[Author's note: This story certainly jumps around, in terms of when each chapter takes place, but I'm not going to apologize for that. When it is done, all the information will be there for a complete picture. This chapter is more of a MASK episode following the 85 cartoon, not the current comics, but since the inclusion of the Specialist Trakker figure as part of the GI Joe team, it still fits in the category. More MASK characters will be appearing in later chapters too. There is so much I want to do with this story, it is intimidating, and this chapter is longer than originally planned to include everything it needed too..

One of the reasons for the delays for updating this story is that it was such a difficult chapter to write, while I am still working on the other stories. I also have been spending a lot of time working on an original story, The Serpent Fleet, which is available at amazon... but enough of that, on with the story.]

It was an odd place for a gas station, built into the mountainside on that desert road, but it was in just the perfect location for the car that was on the verge of running out of gas. A young teenage girl with reddish blond hair climbed out of the passenger side and started pumping gas into the car's tank.

The girl's actions were being observed by two others, from inside the gas station.

"She's…" the young man started.

"Yes, I bet she is from Jasper," the older bald man with a greying red beard said, totally misreading what was on his young friend's mind. "I'll go find out."

Alex stepped out of the station, and walked over to the front corner of the car, standing at a respectful distance. "Are you passing through?"

"No, we're moving here," the girl answered.

"We have had quite a few new arrivals here lately," Alex said, "Must be hard leaving your home."

"Not always," a shadow crossed over the girl's eyes, and Alex knew she was one of the refugees.

"Well, my name is Alex Sector, my friends and I run this little gas station, but most of the time you can find me in town at my office, tending the local animals."

"Oh, I guess we look forward to seeing you around."

"I'm Scott—Scott Trakker," Scott announced, still out of breath from running out of the gas station office.

Alex smiled at the interest Scott was showing in the new girl, as he went back inside the station where his friend and leader met him. "I may have found a new way to keep Scott distracted."

"Later," Matt Trakker said, "Venom is on the move, we need to establish their endgame."

"I'll keep track of the mission from here so you can be mobile with the Thunderhawk."

"Just what the computer recommended."

Outside the gas station, Scott's conversation was brought to an end.

"Sierra, come on, we have to go," the driver of the car said.

"Sorry, but I really need to get going," Sierra said.

"Okay… but, maybe we will see each other again sometime?" Scott asked.

"I hope so, I would like that," Sierra climbed back into the car and it drove off.

Scott stood there, watching it drive away, when the gas station garage opened up, and his dad's Thunderhawk, Brad's Condor and several other cars drove out of it, heading down the road.

"Aw… I missed going on the mission," he said to himself, kicking a rock and heading back into the gas station.

-0O0-

"So, Dad, how did the mission go?" Scott sat at the overly large dining room table, across from his dad.

"It wasn't very productive. They split up and we lost them. We'll have to wait until they make their next move before we can figure out what they are up to."

"Huh… Miles' plans aren't usually so drawn out."

"You're right," Matt said, "It feels like there is a change coming, and we will need to be ready for it."

Scott returned to his meal, although he was more picking at it than eating.

"Is there something on your mind, Scott?"

"I was thinking about maybe going to public school."

"We've had this conversation before, Scott. I need you where you will be safe, and the education you get here is above top notch. I can already guarantee you'll be accepted into whatever college you choose."

"Oh, so you will let me go to college. It's not like your keeping me safe…"

"No, not the way you tend to sneak away on missions."

"I don't have any friends, Dad…"

"Sure you do…"

"No, I don't. No one my own age, no social activities! For goodness sake, my best friend is a robot!"

"Is this about that girl you met today?"

"Yes! No. It's about a lot of things."

"The nature of my position, Scott… it's vulnerable."

"I know all that Dad. I don't want to make things hard for you, I just want a normal life… for a little while."

"Alex said she was from Jasper."

"That's where the mission you never talk about happened, isn't it?"

"She and a few others were sent here because they were especially helpful during that mission."

"So?"

"The point is, that while it may be very improper for me to do so… I can get her address if you want to see her again."

-0o0-

As a scooter, T-bob transported Scott away from the Trakker mansion, and into the suburbs.

"Is it so bad that I'm your friend, Scott?" T-bob asked.

"No, T-bob. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings… I just got so angry with my Dad and how he tries to control every aspect of my life. I'm glad you are my friend."

"You know, you could build a female robot, then we could both have a girlfriend."

Scott laughed, "I wouldn't want a girl robot coming between us, T-bob."

The white egg-shaped robot pulled up to a stop in front of a house with a moving van in it's driveway. "Well, this is it," T-bob said. Scott climbed off, and T-bobs wheel folded up into his body, while his handles extended into arms with claw like hands. "What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know," Scott said, "I've never gotten this far before."

The boy braced himself and willed his legs forward. He never imagined that talking to a girl could be so difficult.

-0o0-

Sierra had been seeing Scott for a couple of weeks before Scott finally gave in to his father's request to have her over for dinner. She would never mistake the Trakker home for Wayne Manor or an old British estate, but it was still an imposing size, just not very tall. When Scott brought her inside, there seemed an air of artificiality to the place.

"T-bob, could you go tell Dad we're here. I'm gonna show Sierra my room."

"Sure thing, Scott," T-bob said and waddled off into the house.

"Your room? How long before the food is ready?" Sierra said with a sly smile.

Scott blushed, "Nah, you never know where my Dad has camera's hidden in this place."

"I can see the need for security, but there are limits. You need your privacy too," she said.

"Well, my Dad doesn't really own this place. He has it as part of his work."

"I could get behind a job like that."

"It is exciting… but I really can't talk about it."

"I know the story. My last almost boyfriend had a thing like that."

"Almost boyfriend?"

"We liked each other, but we could never get things to work out, so I wound up dating a guy who was a jerk most of the time. And then he was gone. Wait, you keep asking my about past relationships, but you have yet to tell me about any of yours?"

"I don't really have any. I'm home schooled by my Dad or a Venture Home Learning Pod, and I've been all over the world with my Dad for his work. I have friends all over the world, but no close friends; certainly no girlfriends."

"I know you fooled around some."

"Yeah…" Scott blushed, remembering a time when he and another girl, he forgot her name, had gotten very friendly with each other while hiding from Venom in a barn. They had to do something to pass the time, she had said.

There was something standard about the house they walked through. Every time she thought there ought to be a picture, there was. Usually a landscape, and under it was always a small side table, small battery powered candles and some other accent piece.

Scott opened a door. "Here's my room."

Scott's room was the first room in the mansion that looked lived in, with old transforming robot toys on the shelves, and a plastic space ship and some planes hanging from the ceiling. It was still a large room, with a good-sized bed, made up with its blue comforter.

Sierra spun around and fell back on his bed. "Now this is nice. All that sneaking around, we should have just come here."

Scott sat down next to her, with a grin. "I wouldn't have changed a thing." He leaned down and kissed her.

Scott's romantic gesture was interrupted by the sound of a man clearing his throat at the doorway.

Sierra thought Scott could have hurt himself with the speed he went from leaning over her to standing up. She sat up more leisurely, and thought something looked familiar about the blond-haired man in a suit who was standing in the doorway. She couldn't shake the idea she had seen him somewhere before.

"Sierra, this is my Dad," Scott sheepishly said.

"Matt Trakker," the man said, stepping forward to shake her hand, "It's good to see you again. I look different when I'm not in my work clothes."

Her mind flashed back to running the nurse's desk during the final days in Jasper, helping inspect the students and other civilians for injuries. Specialist Trakker was part of the military force sent to investigate, and organized the evacuation.

"Are you okay?" Scott asked.

"I'm fine, Scott, sorry." She stood up. "I wanted to thank you for your help back there."

"I was just doing my job, the thanks goes to you."

"Okay," Scott said, "It was fine when just one of you was keeping a secret from me, but if the both of you are in on it, somebody is going to spill the beans."

"It's not really a dinner appropriate conversation," Matt said, and the subject was dropped for the moment.

Sierra followed Scott as he moved to the door, but stopped when she saw a photo sitting on his desk of a little boy with a blue shirt standing in front of a burgundy truck. "Is this you?"

"Yeah, back when I was younger."

Matt chuckled, "Even then, I could never keep Scott from tagging along on my jobs."

"You really buffed up since then," Sierra rubbed Scott's muscled arm.

"Well, since the arcade closed, about the only thing to do around here is work out in the gym."

"You have a gym membership?"

"He means the one down the hall," Matt said.

"Wow."

Matt led them into the dining room, with its massive table. Plates were already set out, full of food, waiting for them.

"So how are you settling into your new home?" Matt asked once they had settled down to their meal.

"It's okay. It doesn't quite feel like home yet, but Scott is helping."

"I suppose that is natural," Matt said, "and Scott has always tried to be helpful. He has been in much better spirits since the two of you met, too."

"Dad…" Scott protested.

"Sorry, this is new for us. I don't mean to embarrass anyone."

"Sierra said she would help me with my next robotics project," Scott said.

"Really?"

"Yes," she answered. "I'm not a robotics genius like Scott, but I can help with the lifting and assembly, and some of the more basic programming."

"Are you going to replace me?" T-bob asked.

"Of course not, T-bob," Sierra said.

"Besides, didn't you say you wanted a girlfriend?" Scott teased.

The robot's answer was an untranslated series of beeps and light flashes across his 'mouth.'

A computerized beep sounded from elsewhere in the house. Matt immediately put down his fork. "Excuse me," Matt pulled out a remote control and pressed a button.

The top half of the far wall slid upwards into the ceiling to reveal a high tech looking computer with monitor that was showing a News 44 program with anchor Hector Ramirez. The tagline behind him read "Bikers of the Living Dead."

"Details are still sketchy at this point, and the military is pulling us back, while evacuating several local towns down in the Florida Everglades. Most witnesses report attacks from zombies or, more colorful accounts even report zombie bikers."

Matt turned off the TV, and the wall slid back down. "I may be busy in the coming days, Scott."

"Zombies? That can't be real, can it, Dad?" Scott asked, but when he turned to look at Sierra he noticed the haunted look on her face.

"Yes, Scott. I'm afraid it can. I have to go look into this. Jasper wasn't a MASK mission, Scott, so I couldn't go into it, but in light of this…" Matt paused. "Sierra, I'm officially giving you permission to talk about the Jasper incident with Scott. It may not always seem like it, but he can keep a secret."

Matt Trakker stood, and walked to the near wall, where a section of it opened for him.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Scott asked.

Sierra nodded. "Can we talk somewhere else?"

"Okay, we'll go back to my room. T-bob, keep an eye on dad, let us know what's going on."

She allowed him to help her up and the two of them went back to his room where the two of them sat down on the side of his bed. "It started on an ordinary day like any other, except my boyfriend didn't make it to school. I never found out what happened to him, but I know he's dead. So many other kids didn't show for school either… but that was just the beginning. I missed the real horror, of family members dying, and tearing apart the living. I think Raff had it the worst…"

Scott comforted her as she described the events, and the horror she had felt during the zombie epidemic Cobra had started that resulted in the town of Jasper being razed to the ground. The feelings of having to deal with the destruction of her home, and everything she had ever known, saying goodbye to what friends had survived. She told him about the last stand, and the discovery that living transforming robots had been hiding out in their town, and risked their own destruction as they held the line to give the humans a chance to escape.

Even for Scott, who was used to AIs, transforming vehicles and masks that could perform near miraculous feats, it was a lot to take in. It did explain some of her mood swings and reluctance to discuss her old home. Although he did enjoy some of the stuff they did together when she tried to distract him from thinking about it.

-0o0-

A few weeks later, life had already resumed a new sense of normalcy.

"Good morning, Mr. Trakker," Sierra said, arriving at their estate.

"Good morning, Sierra. Today isn't a school day?"

"Teacher work day. Any more zombie indications?"

"No. The situation in the Everglades has been contained, but we have no idea what started that incident."

"Hmm. I'm sure you have some ideas."

"Well, a few theories, but nothing definite."

"You mean its classified?"

"Yes."

"Scott and I were going to that new shop in town."

"Sounds like a good idea. I had been planning to go into town with Scott myself so we could get flu shots. Maybe you could stop by a pharmacy for a flu shot?"

"Da-ad… you're always trying to keep me safe. You don't have to," Scott said. "Let's go Sierra."

Instead of taking T-bob, Sierra drove them in her car. They stopped at an old fashioned general store where they looked at magazines before getting sandwiches and sodas. It was a much more innocent date than they frequently went on, but they just did what felt natural.

Their final stop was a pharmacy. Sierra stocked up on a few feminine products, while Scott went to the pharmacy area for a flu shot.

Thanks to the line, she finished up before Scott did, she found him just as he was receiving his injection from a nurse.

"Hey, are you ready Scott?"

Scott rubbed his arm. "Yeah."

Sierra glanced back at the nurse now that she was back on the other side of the counter. Something looked familiar about her. "Do you recognize that nurse from anywhere?"

"Her? No. Never seen her before."

"Great. This is going to drive me crazy until I figure it out."

"Where to next?"

"That food festival thing should be starting soon, we could go to that."

"What type of food? BBQ? Greek?"

"I don't know, does it even matter."

"Nope, let's go."

Sierra turned the car towards the down town area. The entire time she kept thinking about where she had seen that woman before. Was she confusing her with some actress? No, that didn't feel right, she didn't have those kind of looks. She hadn't been in town long enough to have that many friends, certainly not with Scott taking up so much of her town, and the woman was way too old to be a schoolmate. She would have remembered if she was a teacher. Someone from somewhere else then… There was only one memorable somewhere else. Maybe she was a member of the GI Joe team? No, she was someone from school.

Despite his seatbelt, Scott slid across the seat as Sierra did a rapid U turn, and sped back towards the Trakker house.

"What's happening?" Scott asked.

"I need to talk to your dad," she said, "I think I remembered where I saw that woman before."

It was a miracle she wasn't stopped for speeding, and Sierra didn't slow down when she reached the Trakker's driveway, as a result the car wound up stopping up on the sidewalk in front of the mansion.

"Come on, Scott, lets go!" the young woman ran into the house, and up and down several of the long corridors, calling out for Mr. Trakker, but he was nowhere to be found. "Where is he?"

"Wait here, Sierra, I'm gonna check something." Scott left her in the hallway and ran into his dad's study, where he triggered one of the many secret doors into the inner workings of the house. "Computer, where's dad?"

"Matt Trakker's current location: MASK Headquarters!" the high-pitched computer voice said in its loud monotone.

Scott triggered the intercom, "Sierra, how important is it you see my dad right now?"

"Did you not see how many traffic laws I broke getting us here?"

"Okay, I know where he is, let's go." He flipped a switch and another secret door opened in front of Sierra, allowing her to join Scott in the house's computer room. "Come with me." He led her into an elevator that deposited them in a strangely shaped subway tunnel, where a car was already waiting for them on the track with its glass windows, and raised door.

The two sat down, and the door closed. "MASK Headquarters," Scott said. The car started to hum and hover just above the track as it took off down the tunnel at an incredible speed. "Dad's not going to be happy I brought you here."

The car slowed to a stop, and waiting there for the door to open was Matt Trakker, and two other men wearing strange masks that covered their entire heads. Trakker was wearing the same grey utility outfit and armor he wore when she first saw him.

"Scott…" Matt started to talk but then stopped, trying to collect himself. The anger in his voice was powerful. "This is not how you impress a girlfriend, no matter who she is!" he finally said.

"Mr. Trakker, how many were relocated here?" Sierra blurted out before Matt could stop her.

"Five families," one of the other men said.

"Did any of them work at the school?"

"No," Matt said, an element of caution was starting to dilute the anger in his voice at her presence in such a highly classified instillation.

"I think I saw the nurse!" She blurted out, "The Nurse from my old school."

"Where?" Matt demanded.

Sierra started to cow, and took a step back. "In the pharmacy. I think she gave Scott his flu shot."

"Quickly," Matt grabbed Scott by the arm and dragged him down a hallway.

"I guess you had better come with us," one of the other masked men said, sounding more friendly.

"Don't be scared," T-bob waddled over to walk beside Sierra, "they are all really nice, honest."

Matt was already in the room Sierra and the others entered, while Scott was behind a curved glass wall.

"Computer, begin scan."

"Scan commencing," the same computer voice as from the house said. "Warning: Compound Z detected."

"Computer," Matt began…

"This is the part where he asks for the agents best suited for the mission," T-bob quietly told Sierra.

"Call in everyone," Matt finished, "and contact Dr. Greer at the Pitt."

"What does that mean?" Sierra asked, but she knew what it meant.

"Is Scott going to be all right?" T-bob asked.

"We are going to do everything we can for Scott," Alex Sector came out of the shadows, he was the bald man with the beard she met when she was first coming into town. "And one thing it means is that our assumption that your old school nurse was the distributor of the Zombie pathogen was correct."

"Get Julio and anyone else with any medical knowledge in here now," Scott said.

"You can bet Scott isn't the only one she infected," one of the other masked men said.

"The rest we will need to get into the city," Alex said. "We don't know when the infection will kick in, but once it does, we need to contain it, immediately.

"Find her!" Matt said. "She doesn't know we're on to her yet. I don't want her leaving town."

"She may have an antidote," Alex said.

The collection of men and women, each wearing a unique outfit that matched the mask they wore, steadily increased. A total of fifteen different men came in, and were dispatched either to search for a miracle cure for Scott, or to face the threat they now knew was developing.

"Doc can't make it," one man said to Matt, "He sends his regrets, but he is dealing with another outbreak elsewhere."

"Another outbreak?"

"That's what he said. There's some bad mojo going on out there. He also said they have yet to discover a cure."

"If they couldn't find a cure, then we will, and fast."

-0o0-

On the Condor, Brad reached the pharmacy first, traveling by laser guided hyperspeed. The display in his mask showed the others would be there shortly. He pulled his gun, the one piece of equipment MASK agents rarely carried. But today was different, it was personal, and the stakes had never been higher.

After injection, Compound Z typically took up to 12 hours to kill and resurrect its victim. Time was not their friend. Brad activated his Hocus Pocus mask and entered the pharmacy.

"Don't move; you're under arrest!" Brad shouted, his gun leveled at the nurse, who was about to administer yet another shot to an unsuspecting victim.

She dropped everything and turned to run, only to find her path blocked by a massive police officer, his arms crossed, staring down at her, as if daring her to do something.

Brad quickly handcuffed her, and started walking her out towards his bike, and the freshly arrived Rhino truck. "Come on, you have a lot of questions to answer."

The large cop vanished, revealing itself to be a holographic projection from Brad's Hocus Pocus mask.

-0o0-

"I have nothing to say to you," the Cobra agent spat defiantly at the MASK agents who surrounded her cell in their Bunker Hill headquarters.

Trakker and the rest all wore their Masks, standing around her in imposing silence, except for asking questions.

"We know you are a member of the Crimson Guard, one of Cobra's elite. What is your mission here?"

She held her tongue.

Matt Trakker adjusted the subharmonics his mask was producing, the captive winced in obvious pain.

"What's wrong? Do you need an aspirin? Why has Cobra sent you here?"

She cried out and doubled over, clutching her head. "The Commander doesn't tell us why, just what to do!"

Trakker thought about rewarding a truthful answer, by reducing the amount of pain; instead he intensified it. "You came here to infect people with Compound Z. Give us the antidote."

She spoke through her painfilled cry, "I don't have it. I don't think it exists."

Trakker's temper flared, and their prisoner passed out from the pain, although, at that moment, if his sonic torture had caused a brain hemorrhage, he wouldn't have minded.

"We needed her conscious, Matt," Alex said.

In a different room, Sierra and T-bob waved through the glass at Scott who lay on a bed surrounded by more electronic sensors and medical equipment than an entire hospital wing.

Scott smiled and waved back, before his attention was diverted by Dr. Lopez shining a light in his eyes to check his pupil dilation.

"Are you going to give me an antibacterial shot?" Scott asked.

"No," Dr. Lopez said, "Antibacterials, or anything else we do to increase your white cell count, will only increase the development of Compound Z. Don't worry, though, Nurse D, at the Pitt is the leading expert on this disease. I told her about the situation, and she is sending us the formula's for the newest experimental compounds to combat the disease."

"Has anyone been successfully cured?"

"It wouldn't bother me in the least, if you turned out to be the first, so don't give up on me, because I certainly haven't given up on you, and neither has your lady friend, from the looks of it."

The computer's voice had been muted, but the readout listed the disease's progression at 45%.

"I sure hope Scott is going to be okay," T-bob said.

"He has to be," Sierra replied.

The progression readout continued to climb upwards towards 100%, even after Matt volunteered their prisoner to assist with nursing duties. He hoped that either the guilt of having hurt Scott, or the fear that he would turn and infect her, would convince the Cobra agent to be more forthcoming.

Scott continued to grow tired, the comforting voice of Dr. Lopez and the beep of his heart monitor contributed towards lulling him towards sleep. He was too tired to even care when the doctor's voice became alarmed, or the beeping became slower and slower until it turned into a steady tone.

"What is happening?" T-bob asked. "I don't understand, how is Scott?"

Sierra couldn't answer, her throat wouldn't work, and tears were flowing down her cheeks.

Matt Trakker approached Sierra, walking like a zombie.

"When is Scott going to be better?" T-bob asked.

Matt reached over, behind T-bob's head and flipped a switch. The lights in the robot's eyes, mouth and buttons dimmed off and the robot unceremoniously collapsed onto the floor.

Sierra and Matt hugged each other tightly enough to hide their respective tears from each other, while still sharing their mutual grief.

"I'll send you back to the house," Matt's voice broke, as he tried to force himself to focus on the business at hand. If he did that, maybe he could pretend to function for a little longer. "Once there, you should get out of town."

"I'm sorry," she said. The two of them walked back to the automated tram that was waiting.

"I know, me too."

A commotion started to build with increasingly raised sounds and voices from the rooms Matt was escorting her away from.

"He bit me," a male voice said, followed by another voice shouting, "Get into quarantine."

A shrill woman's voice started screaming, "Get me out of here! Get me OUT!"

"I should stay and help," Sierra forced her voice to work, part of her mind moving past the grief.

"No, you get someplace safe," Matt said, closing the door of the tram behind her, "I'll take care of things here. Take here to the mansion."

The tram car hovered up above the track, then started speeding down the track back towards the mansion.

After the tram sped off, Matt put on his Spectrum Mask and turned to the situation behind him.

0oOo0

Sierra sat alone in the eerily silent tram car. Not even a robot for company. She had never before felt so alone.

The lights flickered.

That didn't seem right… had something gone wrong behind her at MASK Headquarters? Although, if Scott had turned, then that meant that people all over town were dying, and coming back as zombies to attack anyone nearby. Something like that could easily be happening at the power plant too, but surely an instillation like MASK Headquarters or the Trakker Mansion had its own emergency power supply.

The lights went out again, both inside and outside the tram. The magnetic field that kept the car suspended over the track gave out, and the car dropped, creating sparks, and sending it cattycornered into the wall.

The lights flickered on once more, before the blackness was permanent, only briefly broken by the sparking of cables from the wrecked tram car.


	13. The Farm

Armageddon Z

[A little bit disappointed that the last chapter didn't get any reviews, a lot went into that one. Still, that's not why I wrote it. Although it may be confusing, I hope it is apparent that virtually every other chapter is a flashback to past events, like the last chapter, which means this chapter, while shorter is "current."]

"We're nearly back to the scrapyard," Bumblebee said, he was part of the Dreadnok convoy that had just crossed back over the bridge from Crown city.

"It's always a relief to get back from the city," Denny said.

"Is that smoke?" Rusty asked, looking out the side window.

"What's over that way?" Bumblebee asked.

"The Farm," Denny said, "We gotta to check on it. If whoever hit the city colony hit the farm too…"

"Well then, Bots, we have a new destination," Bumblebee said. He accelerated pulling alongside and in front of the Thunder Machine, and flashed his lights for them to follow, before veering off on a side road that would lead the convoy to the Farm.

-0O0-

The fields were smoldering, whatever food had been growing there was now either taken or lost, the barbed wire fence surrounding them now protecting nothing.

The main gate to the farm was swinging free, allowing Bumblebee, the Thundermachine and the rest of their convoy free access to the compound.

The humans exited the vehicles to look around, while Bumblebee, and Strongarm transformed and similarly looked around.

Jack and Zartan knelt down and examined the dirt, conferring with each other, before Jack stood and made the discovery official, "Whatever happened, they put up a fight."

"Sir, look at this, If they put up a fight, they were outgunned," Strongarm pointed to a blast mark that clearly looked to be the work of a Decepticon weapon.

"At least they didn't leave any dead behind," Bumblebee said, "That gives us something to hope for."

"I hope so, Bee," Miko said, "because this is not the sort of thing I expect to see left on the battlefield." She dropped a pair of blue jeans down on the hood of the Thundermachine.

"Those look like Hank's" Rusty said.

"Hank is a girl?" Miko asked.

"Yeah, how did you know?"

Miko pulled a pair of panties out of the jeans. "Sorry, but it looks like your girlfriend is half naked."

Zartan elbowed Torch to head the nok off from making an inappropriate comment.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Rusty insisted.

"That sounds familiar," Jack said. "Anyway, look around for anything helpful."

"Yeah, cause without the Farm, it's going to be very hard to complete future trades," Denny looked around in dismay.

Strongarm approached Bumblebee, "Sir, we cannot overlook this Decepticon activity."

"We won't," Bumblebee said, "The situation on this planet is obviously more dire than we originally thought. Decepticon interference cannot be permitted."

[Events at the farm were originally going to be shown in a more graphic fashion. This way was easier to write, with the missing details to be filled in later.]


End file.
